By Laurence Gibbons, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@Gibbonsgob)
NXT UK TV
Taped in London, England at BT Sport Studios
Streamed April 1, 2021 on WWE Network and Peacock
Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness were the broadcast team…
The undefeated Aoife Valkyrie made her entrance to kick off the show. Stevie Turner made her debut entrance to the BT Sports Studio whilst a promo she had cut earlier in the day aired.
1. Aoife Valkyrie vs. Stevie Turner. Valkyrie locked on a headlock until Turner reversed it into a headlock of her own followed by a wristlock. Turner remained on top by working the leg of Valkyrie. Turner hit a lung blower in the corner for a two count. She looked to capitalise but enraged Valkyrie who unleashed a number of strikes. Valkyrie hit the top rope diving split leg drop for the win.
Aoife Valkyrie defeated Stevie Turner in 4:44.
Gibbons’ Opinion: I continue to enjoy watching Aoife Valkyrie and her ever-growing undefeated streak. It was a good move to put her up against the debuting Stevie Turner as it kept us guessing on who would get the win. Turner looked pretty decent. Some may know her as Bobbi Tyler from the UK independent scene and Stardom in Japan.
We saw a vignette for A-Kid in which he spoke of his excitement for the number one contender’s match for his Heritage Cup between Noam Dar and Tyler Bate, next week …
In the NXT UK training room, Jack Starz and Piper Niven worked out…
2. Teoman vs. Josh Morrell. Teoman took Morrell down with a wristlock. Morrell fought back and took Teoman to the corner but the German calmly waited for the referee to call for the break and hit a massive slap across Morrell’s face. Teoman gave himself a run up to smash a huge elbow to the jaw of Morrell. Morrell looked to get back into the match with a number of forearm smashes but Teoman came back with a strike of his own.
Morrell looked for a standing moonsault but Teoman got his knees up to set up a missile dropkick. With Morrell on the canvas, Teoman hit a succession of stomps and locked on the crossface submission for the tap out victory.
Teoman defeated Josh Morrell in 5:23
Gibbons’ Opinion: I really like the aggression of Teoman and his psychology during matches. He constantly looks for slaps and strikes to the face to set up for his crossface finisher. Despite Morrell’s attempts to get into the match, Teoman proved to be too tough a challenge for him.
Walter and Rampage Brown sat down with Sid Scala for a face off ahead of the United Kingdom Championship match at NXT UK Prelude. Walter said he was the best champion of all time and Rampage Brown said he was ready for the title opportunity. Brown bragged about having previously beaten Walter on the independent scene. Walter said he had been looking forward to Brown challenging him but that he would never understand what it means to be United Kingdom Champion …
A vignette aired on Gallus, which involved Wolfgang winning a bare-knuckle boxing match on a Glasgow street…
Kay Lee Ray made her way into the BT Sports Studio to crow about beating the “Best in the World” Meiko Satomura. She said she’d proven all the doubters wrong and would be the champion forever when Millie McKenzie interrupted her. McKenzie said she’d travelled the world since we last saw her on NXT UK and wanted to face KLR. As she started to approach the ring, Isla Dawn took her out from behind. As the two Scots hit the beatdown on McKenzie, Satomura came out to make the save.
Gibbons’ Opinion: It was great to see McKenzie return to NXT UK. Her previous run was short as she chose not to sign with WWE for well-publicised reasons so it is great to see her back for a proper go in NXT UK. This was a really quick and unpredictable spot. McKenzie is a great performer and I’m delighted to see her back in NXT UK. Putting Isla Dawn into a programme with Satomura, KLR and McKenzie will help to elevate her and is the next logical step in her push. I’m excited to see the potential matches ahead involving all four of these ladies.
Backstage, Sid Scala announced Dawn and KLR would take on McKenzie and Satomura in a tag match, next week, that is guaranteed to deliver…
McGuinness and Shepherd ran down the card for the stacked NXT UK Prelude show set to take place next week …
Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams made their entrance ahead of their tag title shot. Pretty Deadly made their way to the ring to defend their titles for the first time.
3. “Pretty Deadly” Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker vs. Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Jordan and Howley started the match but the latter immediately tagged in Stoker. Stoker and Howley used their height and power advantage to gain the better of the early moments of the match. Jordan sent Howley to the outside inspiring Williams to take out Stoker and send him to the outside as well. Pretty Deadly used this to have a quick pep talk whilst Williams and Jordan chose not to continue their offense.
Pretty Deadly singled out Jordan and worked quick tags to stay on top. A beaten down Jordan finally managed to crawl between the legs of both members of Pretty Deadly to make the hot tag. Williams came in with a flurry of moves and a massive bulldog on Stoker. Williams hit a huracanrana on Stoker and looked to have the win until Howley made the save. Pretty Deadly hit Crossing Swords on their challengers and got a close fall.
Jordan hit a senton to set up Williams executing a spinning DDT on Howley for another close fall. Howley pushed his partner out of the way of Williams but sent him into the referee, knocking the official out. Williams brought the title belts into the ring but Jordan refused to cheat and threw the belt away. Williams picked the title back up and hit Jordan in the back with it. Pretty Deadly hit Spilt Milk on Jordan to retain their titles.
“Pretty Deadly” Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker defeated Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams in 18:29 to retain the NXT UK Tag Team Championship.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This was a fun and chaotic finish to this match. I wondered if Williams’ habit for cheating would lead to his team finally being DQ’d and costing them the win. I enjoyed Williams turning on his partner as they’ve never been on the same page and it wasn’t obvious it would happen.
On a whole, it was a decent tag match that built slowly to a nice pay off. This week’s NXT UK was always going to be the calm before the storm ahead of NXT UK Prelude, but it certainly had its wild moments. The aforementioned close of the tag match and the showdown between Kay Lee Ray, Millie McKenzie, Meiko Satomura and Isla Dawn were the highlights of the show.
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